One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
—Romans 14:5
You’ve probably heard the old saying: “Let your conscience be your guide.” Now there’s real truth in that, but we need to be careful, because the conscience can become corrupted if it isn’t informed by the wisdom of God’s Word. A conscience left to itself is not always a reliable guide.
Here’s an illustration I like. Think of your conscience as a sundial. A sundial is a wonderful instrument, but only when it’s receiving light from the sun. At two o’clock in the morning, in the pitch dark, a sundial can’t tell you anything. And worse, if you shine some artificial light on it from the wrong angle, it might tell you something completely false. A sundial can only use the light it’s been given.
Your conscience works the same way. It can only operate on the light it has received. If your conscience has been enlightened by the Scriptures and the Spirit of God, you can trust it to guide you. But if you haven’t let God’s light shine into it, how can you be sure it’s telling you the truth? A conscience shaped only by the culture, your feelings, or bad information will lead you astray and feel perfectly confident doing it.
That’s the backdrop for what Paul says here. He’s dealing with matters that aren’t spelled out as right or wrong in black-and-white commands, things like which days a believer regards as special. And his counsel is striking: “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” On these debatable matters, Paul calls each believer to settle it personally, with a conscience informed by God.
Notice that phrase, “fully convinced.” That’s the standard. Not “probably okay,” not “everyone else is doing it,” but fully convinced in your own mind before God that what you’re doing is right. If there’s genuine doubt, that doubt itself is a warning light. As Paul says later in this very chapter, “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
So how do you keep a good conscience in daily life? Two simple things. First, stay in God’s Word and let His Spirit guide you, keep the sundial out in the sunlight. The more your mind is soaked in Scripture, the more trustworthy your conscience becomes. Second, be fully convinced that what you’re doing is right, act in faith, not in doubt.
I’ve lived by a little motto over the years: when in doubt, don’t. If I’m not getting a green light from Scripture and from the Spirit within, if I’m getting a yellow light, or certainly a red one, then the answer is no. That’s not legalism; it’s simply refusing to act against a conscience that isn’t clear.
When you take those two steps, you’ll experience one of the great quiet blessings of the Christian life: a good conscience. So, keep the sundial in the light, let God’s truth, not the world’s shifting glare, be what your conscience reads by.
YOUR CONSCIENCE IS A SUNDIAL, KEEP IT IN GOD’S LIGHT, AND BE FULLY CONVINCED YOU’RE DOING THE RIGHT THING.
